Methods in Germination Tests of Coniferous Tree Seeds 81 



less space and less time are required for each individual test ; it 

 is easier to regulate the temperature and moisture, and the seetis 

 are always plainly visible. Its disadvantages are that, since 

 there are so many types of paper or cloth germinators, it will 

 be almost an impossibility to standardize the method ; further- 

 more, fungi are apt to grow on the medium, thus necessitating the 

 use of a fungicide such as formalin or sulfuric acid, with the 

 result that both the practical germination per cent and the final 

 germination per cent may be affected one way or the other. The 

 method is not considered to give as true an index of field germina- 

 tion as the more natural soil test. 



Since the paper or cloth method is still used extensively 

 abroad and to some extent in this country, the following short 

 description of the method employed at the Eberswalde seed 

 extracting establishment in Germany may be of value.* "A 



; \Viebecke: The Equipment and Operation of a German Seed Extract- 

 ing Establishment. Trans, by Sydney L. Moore. Forestry Quarterly, 9:3S 



and :;:. 



compartment about three feet square ( 1 meter) is sufficient 

 for this (the germination chamber) ; fitted up as a miniature 

 greenhouse continuously heated by hot air to about 86 degrees F. 

 (30 degrees C.) ; under its glass panes stand the little cellars, 

 tin boxes, and upon the bridges of these are laid about 100 seeds 

 on a strip of flannel or blotting paper, the edges of which hang 

 down into water. The practical application of this at the Ebers- 

 walde seed-house has resulted in the use of blotting paper only, 

 the seed being allowed to lie free upon it, and the individual 

 tin boxes which can comfortably hold ten tests of 100 seeds 

 each, being covered with very large glass plates, lying loose upon 

 them. The seeds are then always visible, germinate quickly, and 

 after 170 germination hours give a result which is accomplished 

 in the quickest and most useful way to be of practical value. We 

 germinate three parallel tests of each day's seed assortment, so 

 that any incorrect handling in the germination chamber can be 

 definitely established." 



Bates** describes a type of apparatus used for a while at the 



**Bates: Technique of Seed Testing. Proceedings of the Society of 

 American Foresters, 8:129. 



Fremont Experiment Station but later discarded as unsatis- 

 factory since it did not yield as good results as the soil test. The 

 writer used moist chambers with moist blotting paper on which 

 the seed lay free, the moist chambers being placed on benches in ^ 



